We want to wish you all an amazing Independence Day! We are celebrating our freedom on the Core blog today with a layout featuring Tim Holtz Seasonal Impressions.

I love using the Tim Holtz papers! These pre-embossed papers make a layout so easy! Add a few things and the page will simply fall into place. I had these adorable photos of my grandson waving and playing with the flags down on the beach.

1. Start with your selected sheet of Tim Holtz Seasonal Impressions. Sand it thoroughly with your Sand It Gadget to let the kraft base show through and then dust it off with your Dust Buddy.

2. Take a sheet of the dark red. Using a star embossing folder emboss it. You will need to use the embossing folder approximately three times to cover the entire length of your sheet. Again sand it down with your Sand It Gadget and dust it off with your Dust Buddy and attach it to your page.

3. Mat your photos with white cardstock. Cut an oval out of white cardstock using a Spellbinder’s die cut. Then using a scallped Spellbinder’s oval die cut a navy piece. Adhere together and then to the layout for placing your title.

4. Taking a sheet of red cut out a star. Using a Score Pal score it so that you can fold it to pop up. This involved scoring it first on the top from point to point. I sand my scored lines while they are still on the Score Pal so that they are sharp. Then turn it over and score it again from the inner points.

5. To create the clouds use a DieNamics Cloud die and cut your clouds out of the blue based White Wash papers. Sand them to show some of the blue through.

I don’t know about you but we are gearing up for the end of school here. With only less then two weeks left, I need to get busy on some gifts for my kid’s teachers and we hope you have been enjoying the ideas so far this week! You can easily incorporate these with layouts, cards or any paper crafting project.

I love a good gift bag and Debbie Standard as one for us today but that’s not the focal point. She created her own award ribbon using some Spellbinders Scalloped Circle dies! Just die cut them with an embossing machine and then cut them into pieces. Sand and then adhere them in a circular pattern, add some banner strips and you are done!

I don’t know how she does it but Debbie Standard creats layout after layout and they are ALL amazing AND they showcase Core like no other…ENJOY!

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When I saw these adorable pictures of little Gavin reading I immediately thought of the Cosmo Cricket Neutral collection for my background papers. Gavin adores books and will hunt them out to sit and read and be read to. I added some Darice Washi tape to create a frame and also along the top of my page. I created the worm and books with a die cut from my Silhouette. I also used some Tim Holtz Distress Stain on my background and some Galatos to create the dribbles on the page.

Got these adorable photos of my daughter’s bff’s baby, Gavin and decided to scrap them in a grid design using only the colors in his clothes. I Cut a border and then cut inside the border to form the outside of my frame. Then cut strips 1/4″ wide to use as the center strips in my grid. Then I chose two colors that matched his clothes and embossed them with different embossing folders. I attached some ribbon around the top one and then used my scraps (I’m all about using scraps!) to make the flowers and hearts to embellish the embossed sections. I sprayed the flowers and spin using the Mister Huey’s mist before added the brads.

I loved this picture of my son, Jason, and his girlfriend, Maria, taken during an outing to Fredericksburg. They love having me scrap pages and are getting where they are constantly sending me pictures to scrap (gotta love that after fighting to get pictures of this boy for years!!!) I went for the 6 X 6 packs to create this and picked out colors from both the Darks and the Neutrals packages. I first used a die cut to cut out the hexagons and then used different embossing folders to emboss each one with. Then I sanded them and dusted them off and adhered them to my page. Then I used my Silhouette to cut some swirls and the hearts and some Spellbinder’s die’s to cut the flowers and the leaves. As I’ve said before when you cut something delicate like leaves or swirls – run it through your Xyron machine and while it’s still on the wax paper – sand it – it’s alot easier not to tear it that way.

The next few days we have some Core Tag inspiration for you. Tags are the perfect item to have in your crafting arsenal this year. Did you know the come in our fabulous texture cardstock with colored Core AND we have Smooth Tags, too! You can use them for Thanksgiving tags or place settings or maybe even to use on a wine bottle! The possibilities are endless. So over the next few days we have some tag inspiration for you and this Holiday Season feauring our Core Tags.

Thanksgiving Day Tag from Debbie Standard

For this tag I wanted to try some embossing, inking and misting. I started off embossing my tag, then I sanded it with my Sand It Gadget. Then I used my Dust Buddy on it and then inked the embossed portion with some Tim Holtz ink. Then I sprayed it with the Tattered Angels mist – let it dry and then added my embellishments which I created in the same fashion as the tag. I cut them, embossed them, inked and sprayed them. Then I ran them through my Xyron machine and attached them to the card. I used the Spellbinder’s die to cut and emboss my flowers, then I lightly sanded them, dusted them off, inked the edges and rolled the edges. Then I sprayed them with the Tattered Angels, let them dry and put them together with the My Mind’s Eye brads.

For this tag I wanted to try some embossing, inking and misting. I started off embossing my tag, then I sanded it with my Sand It Gadget. Then I used my Dust Buddy on it and then inked the embossed portion with some Tim Holtz ink. Then I sprayed it with the Tattered Angels mist – let it dry and then added my embellishments which I created in the same fashion as the tag. I cut them, embossed them, inked and sprayed them. Then I ran them through my Xyron machine and attached them to the card. I used a Die namics die cut for my flowers. I lightly inked them with some Color Box chalk. I then rolled them up.

Personally, I would ask Debbie Standard. She always creations beautiful layouts that not only showcase Core but they are full of amazing details, beautiful photos and over all well designed elements. What do you say we check out a few?

And next up another amazing layout. Check out the placement of the photos and just how balanced this amazing layout is! The flowers move our eye around and the hand cut details….

I have lways been a huge fan of the Core Amour Line and this Teresa Collins line in pink – for princess – was just perfect for wedding photos. Such a photogenic couple too! I love these new David Tutera tags, stickers and dies – make cards and layouts so easy. The leaves were made with the Spellbinder’s Foliage die and then run through my Xyron so that I could sand them before putting them on the page. Using your Xyron for this makes it so much easier to sand those delicate things.

We are so excited for this week and trust me when I say our papers are a match made in heaven! But seeing is believing, right? So make sure you stick around all week long for some inpsiration and a giveaway of course!

Make sure you check out the Authentique BLOG for more ideas and a giveaway AND their complete lines of gorgeous papers HERE. Today we are using the Seasons Autumn and the Tradition lines.

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Before we give you all the goods PLEASE check out both companies on Pinterest and follow them for endless inspiration!

First up we have Mary Pat Siehl with a layout using the Seasons Autumn layout. She really embraces the Autumn color palette with the rusts and reds and I love that touch of navy blue!

Fall is my favorite time of the year. I think is is the beautiful rich colors that are all around! Core and Authentique are such a great pairing becuse of the beautful textures and colors that both companies have. For today I made a fall layout with the new collection from Authentique and I paired it up with some Core Amour and Core Impressions Jillibean Soup. The colors really mixed well and the texture it provided just made the layout!